Nile River Basin Research

Justin Taylor

• Karyabwite, Diana. (2000). Water Sharing in the Nile River Valley. Retrieved from http://www.grid.unep.ch/activities/sustainable/nile/nilereport.pdf

     This document describes how the United Nations Environment Program has set up an initiative to manage sustainably the Nile River Basin. Through various programs and projects UNEP has monitored the Nile and the usage of it focusing on the locations that are most critical. The water issues that are focused are quality and quantity.  

     It is relevant to our case study because today in Africa's environment 300 million people are possibly going to have to live with the lack of water supply. This water shortage in both quantity and quality areas brings upon many more problems for nations that surround the Nile. The people and environment will both suffer and without this vital resource these nations dont stand much of a chance. These examples are why the issue has brought conflicts between the surrounding nations. These projects are searching to find a solution to the problem for everyone but it is going to take a joined effort from all parties. 

     This journal in my opinion has the agenda of displaying the crisis of the Nile to the public so that more are aware of it. Many developed countries couldn't even imagine this  problem, but because of the drastically different environment surrounding the Nile this problem could end up to prove devastating. This being said the journal is showing what is being done to control the problem and what the causes of it are. 

• Rubadiri, Victoria. (2011, July 28). Drought a shared crisis for the nile basin states. Retrieved from http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2011/07/28/drought-a-shared-crisis-for-nile-basin-states/

     This site describes the need for the countries that surround the Nile to cooperate collaboratively to come up with a solution for the areas drought problem relating to the Nile resource. A meeting of the countries that surround the Horn of Africa was held in order to discuss legal ways of solving this problem since they are experiencing the worst droughts in a while. 

     This article is relevant to our case study in that droughts are a major part of the problem for the Nile nations. The conditions that these nations are already enduring are a struggle for them enough and these droughts make the problem exponentially worse. If something is not done to solve this situation the resource is said to be diminished as much as 50% by 2020. 

     The agenda of this article is to make it fully aware that this problem is very severe and without the initiatives of these nations will threaten all civilizations that surround the Nile. This article is a little short and lacking of material we could use, possibly need to find another source that focuses more on the problems and elaborates on them more. 

• Cathcart, Hans. (2007, May 15). Future demands on nile river water and egyptian national security. Retrieved from http://www1.american.edu/ted/ice/nile-2020.htm

     This source describes the main factors in the Nile River crisis and shows that climate change, economic increase, and population increase are all grouping up to make the problem more severe. With all of these factors this site goes into depth and analyzes each of them based on how the changes are affecting the river negatively. 

     This article is relevant to our case study in that the analysis is perfect for our research and for our planning of developing plan to solve the issues. The data that this article provides will help us to see where the most critical points in this problem are. There is a problem solving diagram shown and it will serve to help us see possibilities of future problems caused by the changes being made to progress this issue. 

     The agenda of this site is to show by data and by dialogue that all changes that are made have consequences even if they are meant to be beneficial. Solving this problem is crucial to the lives of millions who depend on this source. All aspects of this problem need to be assessed when a solution is being drawn up.  

Erica Mulford

• Abdel-Satar, Amaal M. "Water Quality Assessment of River Nile from IDFO to Cairo." Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Research31.2 (2005): 200-23. Web. 4 Sept. 2011. <http://www.nodc-egypt.org/contacts_files/vol-31-2/Volume%2031%20(2)%202005.PDF/14/Text.pdf>.

     17 sites along the Nile were tested to determine the impact man has on the river. A major change in water quality is due to human consumption and management of the water and the surrounding land. The natural biological activity was found to be significantly impaired from human activity; however, the “River Nile has an intense self-purification capacity” and would be in a much worse condition if it were not so. The study found that the Nile has “localized pollution problems” and is in “great danger of becoming a waste collection system.” This information is very useful to our case study. It discusses the affects that humans have on certain regions in the Nile and provides details of the scientific findings. These findings offer information about the water quality and what actions should be taken from humans based on those findings. The author most likely wanted to understand the effects humans have on the river to provide a basis on whether we should take significant action to change current actions associated with the river. 

• Wahaab, Rifaat A., and Mohamed I. Badawy. "3. Water Quality Assessment of the River Nile System: An Overview."Biomedical and Environmental Sciences 17 (2004): 87-100. Web. 4 Sept. 2011. <http://www.besjournal.com/n3236760/n3239148/n3239152/n3245094/n3247979/appendix/2004-BES-17-1-11.pdf>.

     This article aims to determine the largest contributors to the pollution problem (and their sources) in the Nile River and to determine what actions should be recommended for the given circumstances. The results of this analysis show that many parts of the river are significantly impaired but “the river is still able to recover in virtually all the locations.” The conclusion touches on the actions that are recommended to avoid harming the Nile further (ex monitoring scheme and creation of environmental laws). This article touches on a lot of subjects that are relevant for our case study. Although the conclusion focuses more on the solution than the problem, the vast majority of the article can provide us with insightful information about the pollution problem in the Nile. The authors mention in the objectives section of the article that they want to identify the large pollution contributors and the implications on the environment and the health of the Nile that those pollutants have.  The author most likely plans to identify these sources and develop a “waste management” plan of some sort.  

• Shehata, S. A., Badr, S. A., Ali, G. H., Ghazy, M. M., Moawad, A. K., & Wahba, S. Z. (2009). Assessment of Nile Water Quality via Phytoplankton Changes and Toxicity Bioassay Test. Journal of Applied Sciences Research, 5(12), 2083-2095. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

     This journal looks into the changes of phytoplankton density in the Nile River to find correlations with increased pollution and specific species life in the river.  More specifically, the experiment calculates the chlorophyll content and compares those levels with the “total algal counts.” The study found that the total counts of algae increased significantly in the winter time and recommend water monitoring from algal counts and phytoplankton. This journal is not as relevant to our case study as most of the others are. This journal focuses on a very specific component of the problem that will be useful but not as useful as sources that provide a wide range of content and insight into the problem. The author mentioned drinking from safe water sources and disposing of wastewater properly. The author may have planned to create an experiment that would help provide useful information about species in the Nile (in recent years in which the pollution levels have increased significantly) and if they have positive or negative effects on the river.   

Billy Godfrey

• Rahman, M. A. (2011, July 24). The Geopolitics of Water in the Nile River Basin. Centre for Research on Globalization, Retrieved Sept. 7, 2011, from

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=25746.

     In this article the author describes that water in Africa is a major aspect for survival. The Nile Basin has ten countries that make it up. There are some different theories that the author talks about like the Collier-Hoeffler Model. This article also brings up different theories about the Nile river. The conflict on the Nile river needs to be addresses so that the people on the Nile can live better lives. There is a good map of the Nile River basin that could be use to show where the water is traveling.

• Wu, Xun and Dale Whittington. (2006, Feburary 25). Incentive compatibility and conflict resolution in international river basins: A case study of the Nile Basin. WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH, Retrieved Sept. 7, 2011, from www.environmentfordevelopment.org/research/publications/publications-repository/incentive-compatibility-and-conflict-resolution-in-international-river-basins-a-case-study-of-the-nile-basin/files/Wu%20-%20Whittington%20WRR%202006%20 .

     This article discusses the importance of cooperation between countries along a river basin. There are many economical gains possible from this cooperation. The countries downstream of the Nile River, Egypt and Sudan, currently control most of the water in the Nile; however, upstream countries are becoming more assertive. This article looks at the conflict along the Nile and the possibilities for countries cooperating. Then the article discusses applying the cooperative game theory framework for cooperation along the Nile River.

• United Nation Environment Programme. (2007, June). Sudan Post-Conflict Environmental Assessment. Retreived, Nov. 4, 2011, from http://postconflict.unep.ch/publications/sudan/10_freshwater.pdf.

     This article is about the freshwater resources in Sudan. It provides an overview of the fresh water available in Sudan and discusses the environmental impacts caused by building of the dams and the causes of pollution to the freshwater. While the dams throughout the river provides hydroelectricity and irrigation, it also causes upstream land degradation and downstream changes in water flow. “UNEP noted three principal water quality issues: diffuse pollution from agrochemicals and sewage;  point source industrial pollution; and  high levels of suspended sediments” (United).

Mandy Jenkins 

• Shinn, David H. July 2006. Nile Basin Relations: Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia. Retrieved September 3, 2011, from http://elliott.gwu.edu/news/speeches/shinn0706_nilebasin.cfm.

     The author of this article is David H. Shinn, and an adjunct professor in the Elliot School of international affair at George Washington University. They discuss in the article about how there could potentially be a “water war” and that the Nile Basin Initiative has been helpful, but not actually accomplished anything besides training for member country personnel.

     This article discusses all the political relations between the countries in the Nile river basin. “Three of the ten countries in the basin — Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia — are far more important than the remaining seven from the standpoint of Nile water hydrology and potential political conflict or cooperation over Nile water issues. The three account for 85 percent of the territory that constitutes the hydrologic boundaries of the basin. Sudan contains 63 percent of the basin while Ethiopia has only 12 percent and Egypt 10 percent”.

     With this article we can become more informed on how the political relations of the countries in the Nile river basin have such a large effect on the overall water issues surrounding the Nile. 

• Abraham, Kinfe. 2002. The Nile Basin Disequilibrium. Retrieved September 3, 2011, from http://www.sam.gov.tr/perceptions/Volume7/September-November2002/Perception_KinfeAbraham.pdf.

         Dr. Kinfe Abraham, who is president of the Ethiopian International Institute for Pease and Development and the Horn of Africa Democracy and Development International Lobby, wrote this article. It mainly focuses on the imbalance in the nile basin riparian countries. The author goes into further detail about each country involved and what exactly their problems are. For example, Egypt and The Sudan are the two countries that have made the greatest use out of the Nile.

     There are many reasons as to why there are political conflicts when it comes to these countries, but one of the main reasons for these conflicts are countries changing the river in ways that affect the other countries upstream without consulting those countries. The Aswan Dam is a good example of this. When Egypt built the dam, they did not consult any of the other upstream riparians except for The Sudan.

     This article will help us to understand how these countries view the nile and how they want to use it. It will also show us how the actions of one country’s changes to the nile can severely affect the countries upriver. 

•   Nile Basin Capacity Building Network For River Engineering. 2011. Retrieved September 6^th, 2011, from http://www.nbcbn.com/index.php/nile-basin/.

     This source goes over many of the challenges that the nile river basin faces today.  Some of these challenges are rapid population growth, limited water resources, environmental degredation, and poverty. It also addresses some other issues like political stability in the surrounding regions, little or no research and development by local experts, and other knowledge management challenges.

     The main goals of NBCBN are “to complete and strengthen this knowledge Network in the Nile basin, to support its communities of practice, to build a sustainable knowledge base, to generate and implement joint research with tangible outputs, contributing directly to the generation of knowledge in water resources management and to co-create sustainable ways of collaboration, knowledge dissemination and knowledge networking in the basin”. The network was created in 2000 with a main objective of “creating an environment in which professionals from the water sector sharing the same river basin would have the possibility to exchange ideas, best practices and lessons learned”.

     This site will help us gather more details on the problems in the nile basin. It will also give us more information about the research that is currently going on in the regions around the nile to help find solutions to those problems. 

Nile Basin